Tag: 2015

My work recently ran a charity auction which was so crap that it might have been funny if the money it was trying to raise wasn’t supporting a good cause. Donations were poor, auction items were poor, turnout was poor and most of the bids were pity bids. The highlight/lowlight was the donated homemade hobby pottery that someone’s wife had crafted which looked a bit like it came from a My First Play-Doh™ set. The “winner” of that item didn’t really want the prize, the organisers were embarrassed that it had come to this, onlookers endured the awkwardness of it and the pottery probably didn’t want to be there either. Our second mid season drafts are a lot like that charity auction – full of disappointment. There is some absolute shite read out as we all try and turn over our worst players from a pool that has already been thoroughly picked over at the previous drafts. I’m not going to lie, I looked forward to reviewing and snickering at some of the names from this draft. However, occasionally, a coach manages to strike gold.

Format of the table has changed slightly from the last review. Some picks are great, some are just outright duds but others were a case of the right player at the wrong time and I want to highlight these. It will still be round by round but I’m going to show the score, average and games played from players drafted next to the total possible score, average and games (last 3 columns). Example: Badgers took Touhy and held him until the 2nd mid season draft in 2016. In the time while he was on the Badgers list he played 22 games and averaged an output of 66.1. Tuohy, however, has played 44 possible games since the 2015 2nd mid season draft and averaged 77 across all games since which means not only that Tuohy has never missed a game but the Irish prick has averaged 88 from the moment the Badgers dropped him…Round 1

Since a lot of coaches are trying to replace the worst couple of players from their squad it’s no surprise to see another draft flooded with defenders. Barbarians and Titans bucked this trend and, as a result, enjoyed the services of Hill and Vince. For the Titans they would be able to throw Vince into their backline the following year and the Barbs were able to trade Hill for pick 16 at the next draft. The gators also bucked the trend but only because it’s their policy to use 2 first round draft picks on ruckman per year. Seems to be working for them.

Zac Williams is probably the best pick from this round and perhaps the draft. The young giant has averaged 82 points across 32 games for the Jackals and would earn a starting position in the backline of every team in the league.

Maynard followed a similar path to Tuohy. Held by the Vipers until the first midseason draft of 2016 Maynard only averaged 55 points in that time but since being delisted has averaged just north of 75 and found his way into a few other teams.

Colquhoun and Shaun Edwards are the first categorical flops of this draft. Neither would provide much to finish 2015 off nor feature in 2016 and both would eventually be delisted but the Outlaws and Wolverines respectively.

Rampe has averaged a respectable 69 for the Ducks and is a solid pick.

How boring are the Scorpions not even bothering to participate in this draft? Adam apparently thought this draft was beneath him or had perhaps scheduled another draft on for that night.

Round 2

Buckley (Badgers) was a disgusting pick but funnier still was Tom Fields (Gators) at pick 13. The best part of that pick was the immediate announcement that Fields was up for trade. Unfortunately for Tom and for Aaron they would never get the opportunity as Fields was delisted by Carlton over summer.

While scraping the barrel for defenders the Ducks managed to snag Zak Jones who is going at 81 points per game this year… for the Scorpions. Simon delisted Jones at the very next trade period and while he still wouldn’t do much in 2016 he would eventually come good and get snapped up in the first round of this year’s preseason draft.

On the other hand Wolverines managed to squeeze every last drop out of Palmer. They delisted him at M2 2016 and since then Palmer has only managed one AFL game. 66 points per game from a forward in that time still makes him a list clogger.

Speaking of, Titans can’t be questioned for persevering with Brandon Jack. The Swan was only delisted in the 2017 preseason. Jack has played just the solitary game in 2017 so Titans can feel comfortable with the decision to drop him but maybe not the decision to draft him in the first place

Jackals received serviceable output from Cross as they contended for finals and may have been fortunate enough to gain him as a defender if he had played on for one more year.

Barbarians backed up their nice first round pick with Touk Miller at 12. Miller currently enjoys forward status and looks to be one of the more promising young Sun mids.

McLean (Vipers) is another good pick from this draft and is averaging 82 points as a forward across 2017. McLean is also the last of only four players from this draft to remain on the same team they were drafted to, the others being Vince, Williams and Miller.

Round 3 and Rookie Draft

A lot like the Ducks’ previous selection of Zak Jones, Toby Nankervis was a case of the right player at the wrong time. Simon was quick to cut Nank at the very next draft period before eventually hearing his name announced at pick 3 of the 2017 preseason draft. In fairness nobody was bold enough to sit on Nank in that time and a bit like Tuohy unforeseen offseason trades can make all the difference.

Another good ruck that was correctly identified at this draft was Rory Lobb by the Vipers. The Vipers traded Lobb to the Outlaws at the next trade period for a third round pick which may have been undervalue but if I could turn my rookie pick at this draft into a third round preseason pick I’d do it every time.

Mayne provided handy depth for the Vipers in his time at the Venodrome and has really taken being dropped in a premiership year badly – carving 7 points off his average since and agreeing to a trade to Collingwood.

Finally, both Jansen and Ellis-Yolmen failed to register a game for the Wolverines and Outlaws respectively. Despite being rookie picks after three rounds of drafting these were actually only the 21st and 22nd live selections in this draft. I expect a few more names of this calibre to be read out at our draft this week.

In the lead up to the first mid season draft of 2017 let’s look back at the results from the same draft two years ago. Two years of information should be enough to judge whether our picks were good, bad or indifferent but it’s not just whether we nailed a pick but also whether we held the players long enough to reap the rewards. This was our first mid season draft of the league and the first in a keeper format for a few coaches. This draft is still unique in that a lot of teams hadn’t quite settled and were rectifying mistakes from the initial draft.

I’ve gone back through the record books and collated all the scores from players while they were on the coaches lists. Therefore, 2015 games and averages is post round 9 of that year and if a player was cut at a particular trade period then so were their scores. I’m going to break it into rounds to make it a bit easier and probably gloss over the back end of the draft. I actually started out doing something like this for our first draft but 300 picks takes a lot of time to cover so I’ll tackle that at a later date.

Round 1

Winners – Picken (Vipers), Lynch (Outlaws) and McDonald (Jackals). Using the total score these three stand out as the only players to contribute over 3,000 points to their respective teams. They’ve each played the majority of possible games and scored well for their respective positions. It’s difficult to split the three.

Busts – Spencer (Gators) and Pearce (Ducks). Gators began their ruck fetish early and Spencer becomes the first bust of the draft. I know at the time he would have preferred Sinclair but still eyed rucks as the most valuable asset in the draft. Pearce fooled the Ducks with a cracking start to 2015 before fading away badly in the latter part of the year. I’m sure a few coaches were also eyeing off Pearce in the first round. Simon didn’t hesitate to cut him at the end of the year which turned out to be the right call.

Of the rest, Rischitelli was an astute selection by the Titans as he chipped in for 12 games at 90ppg in a premiership year. Electing to delist him before 2016 began was also the right call. Wallis also provided great service for the Wolverines in 2015. A terribly unlucky and lean year stopped this pick being a huge winner but if Wallis continues his comeback at the rate he is going then another year is all it will take to elevate this pick. Sinclair has provided handy ruck coverage for the Badgers. McIntosh has made a reasonable contribution to the Barbarians over time but has generally disappointed considering his fast start to 2015. Adam was quick to let everyone know how silly it was that Rosa slipped to 10 but I think we can safely say that this pick was average at best – holding a 71 averaging midfielder to get a 76 averaging defender for a solitary year isn’t worth it.

Even in the first round we’ve only got a 60% retention rate with 4 players either on the free agent list or retired. It gets worse from here.

Round 2

Winners and Grinners – Macmillan (Vipers). I’m reluctant to even call Macmillan a winner but as far as defenders go his output has been consistent and very reliable. Few teams wouldn’t take 75 points from their last defender in this league.

Busts – Bruce (Jackals). Similarly, there also isn’t a standout bust in this round. Bruce failed to maintain his start to 2015. Jackals made the correct call to delist him at the end of the year as he has roughly maintained the same scoring since.

Of the rest, Murphy (Scorpions) and Hooker (Wolverines) would have been the winners from this draft if not for each essentially missing all of 2016 for different reasons. Both players now reside on another list which shows that coaches still think they’re good enough to get redrafted. A huge run of defenders took place in this round with Wood (Titans), Roberton (Titans) and Oxley (Outlaws) also being taken. All three players are now free agents and were delisted some time in 2016 after a lean year. Of these though Titans must be kicking themselves for not holding Roberton who, as a defender, has averaged 106 from 9 games so far this year. Roberton is still a free agent so it’s fair to say that Titans weren’t the only ones at the time who didn’t see much potential from Roberton. Wood and Roberton both chipped in well for the Titans in 2015 and even Oxley averaged a solid 74 for the Outlaws however opportunity has curtailed Oxley and Wood’s scoring has steadily decreased.

Of the forwards, Ducks fell into a similar trap with Edwards as they did with Pearce in the first round. Edwards looked to be a handy 85ppg forward but managed only 68 across the rest of the year and a less that exciting 74 in 2016 before they delisted him in Round 16. Cripps also struggled to maintain output in 2016 largely due to structural changes and was delisted by the Gators in Round 9 the following year. Stevens (Badgers) continues to flirt with form. A bevvy of knocks, injuries, bad games at bad times and midfield depth at his clubs have restricted him to 20 of a possible 44 games.

Only two players from this round have not been delisted since and 60% of players now reside on the free agent list.

Round 3

Winners and Grinners – … Lever? (Badgers). Gross. Nah despite chipping in the most points the real winners are the Ducks with Duggan as they were then able to trade Duggan in a direct swap for a Round 1 Preseason pick.

Busts – Most of these were pretty poor picks which is either a reflection of how, as a group, we have gotten better at drafting or just how all these drafts generally work. If I had to pick 1 it would be Blair as a forward who undid the Vipers good work in the first two rounds.

Gators were also able to extract value out of Scharenberg by trading him to the Scorpions at the beginning of this year for Trengove. Howe initially seemed to be one of the best picks from this round but couldn’t capitalise on an aging Hawthorn list in 2016 and was delisted by the Tits. Wellingham (Jackals) didn’t last long but that wouldn’t be the last time his name graced a team list. I was surprised to learn that Brooksby (Wolverines) is still AFL listed. Quality free agent rucks in our league are always few and far between to be fair. Ducks have been very patient with Ramsay who is still a big unknown.

Not surprisingly only 4 of the 8 picks in this round haven’t been delisted.

The Rest

I’ve filtered out all the non-selections and what can be seen above is every selection beyond 30 including rookie selections.

Winners – Grigg (Vipers), Wright (Badgers) and Griffen (Barbarians). Who knew that solid midfielders would become so scarce in our league. Grigg might be the best pick of the draft considering he was taken at pick 45. Pretty sure they were chopped by the Barbarians at the same trade period. Similarly, in a league desperate for more rucks the Badgers used the last pick of the main draft to nail first year player 2m Peter. Barbs also walked away winners with Griffen who provided reasonable scores before being traded to the Jackals probably with the hope of turning defender.

Busts – Kelly (Badgers). Might be unfair to nominate busts this late but I’m doing it anyway. Kelly shares the trophy with Marchbank (Outlaws) as the player to be delisted quickest from this draft and only lasted until the very next trade period. Unlike Marchbank however, Kelly is still rubbish.

Of the rest, Dumont (Badgers) was also on the money but not enough patience was shown to wait for the North Melbourne rebuild. Dixon (Barbarians) has also come good at Port Adelaide but that didn’t save him from a Barb slashing. Hale provided some coverage for the Vipers until retirement while Lonie (Ducks), Laverde (Titans), CEY (Jackals), Ellis (Wolverines) and Goddard (Outlaws) all failed to develop and are yet to prove that they can play at an AFL level.

Only 3 of the final 13 picks have avoided being delisted which is a shocking strike rate however I don’t think many of our drafts these days go this late.

Overall

The big winners from this draft I’d have to say were Vipers (Picken, Macmillan and Grigg). Worst performing would be either the Gators who squandered pick 4 on Spencer (also Cripps and Scharenberg) or the Ducks who were fooled by Pearce and Edwards but may have redeemed it with Duggan and Ramsay (also Lonie). Also worth noting is that Titans drafted for needs and most of his picks helped him get across the line in a premiership year.

Of the 41 total selections only 18 currently reside on a UKL list and only 15 have completely avoided a chop since.

If anyone is interested I’ve put two spreadsheets up on the google UKL login. One spreadsheet shows the above information while the other contains total player’s scores since they were drafted and regardless of if/when they were delisted. The second one is a good indication on whether a pick might have been for the right player but at the wrong time. I expect to see a few of these names read out again at this coming draft.